No Common Ground To Start From
by cinnafinnick
Summary: {Starts sometime after House of Close Calls} Jerome and Joy have always disliked each other, each thinking pretty lowly of the other. Is that about to change?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Sitting forward with his elbows on his knees and face in his palms, Jerome watched the television. He didn't know where his other housemates were and he didn't actually care to know. He heaved a sigh and sat back, stretching his legs out and crossing his ankles. Jerome wasn't overly concerned with the goings-on in the house. For one thing they didn't concern him, and for another everything seemed to be working out swimmingly... for now.

Jerome's girlfriends were now roommates. Yes, girlfriends, plural, because he had two. Willow Jenks and Mara Jaffray, now living under the same roof in the same house and as if that weren't bad enough, the same room. It had been hard enough for Jerome to balance them both and keep his little scandal a secret when they didn't live together. Now it looked like things were going to blow up in his face... unless he acted fast.

Immediately, Jerome stood up and headed into his and Alfie's room. Alfie was sitting on his bed, laptop open. Probably stalking Amber. "Alfie close the laptop," Alfie didn't obey but he did look up at Jerome. "How could you encourage this?"

Alfie rose an eyebrow, "I'm sorry Jerome, but I have no idea what you're talking about."

Jerome tapped his foot, impatiently. "Willow and Mara. Mara and Willow."

"What have I got to do with that?" Alfie asked, indignantly.

"You told me it was a good idea."

"I don't remember that," Alfie shrugged.

"So what you're saying is you don't remember a thing about our conversation? You basically enabled me, you should have stopped me, why didn't you stop me?"

"I doubt you would've listened to anything I had to say," Alfie scoffed. "You're in deep trouble."

"Yes, I know, and I need your help."

"My help?"

"To devise the elaborate plans that we always come up with, for my benefit this time."

Alfie blinked and said nothing. Jerome stared at him waiting for his response.

Finally Alfie shrugged, "I guess it couldn't hurt."

Jerome smirked, "I knew you'd pull through, Alf."

Together, the two talked about what Jerome could do to pull it off. For some reason, Jerome had the feeling Alfie didn't entirely improve of Jerome's little cause célèbre. Not that Jerome was particularly worried about what Alfie's opinion was. As long as he kept quiet and knew whose side to take.

"Good talk." Jerome said about a half hour later, standing up and heading to leave the room.

"It doesn't matter how good the plan is, they're going to find out."

"All I need is a little time," Jerome replied before opening the door and leaving the room.

In the kitchen Jerome leaned against the counter and grabbed an apple out of the fruit bowl. As he took a bite out of it Joy walked in and glared at him.

"Not feeling so friendly today, Mercer?"

Joy said nothing and rolled her eyes.

"I guess you could say you're not feeling very joyful?" Jerome chuckled at his own pun, earning him another glare from Joy.

"Oh shut up, Jerome, nobody likes you."

"I beg to differ."

"Oh, right, you mean your girlfriends."

Joy had said the statement with a certain nonchalance that made Jerome's jaw drop and his eyes widen. Joy rose an eyebrow, proud of herself for finding something to use against him. Joy figured he could use a taste of his own medicine.

"That's right," she said before he could reply, "I know all about it. You think you're so clever, don't you?"

"Well..."

"Don't interrupt me. Jerome, you are dating two people at once. Both people I happen to consider friends."

"Please don't tell them," Was all Jerome could come up with.

"Fine, you tell them."

"How did you find out?" Jerome asked her.

"Oh, please, the rest of this house might be naive but I know a cheater's face when I see one."

"It's none of your business who I date, Joy. How about you just stay out of it?"

Joy pretended to think for a moment, "I'll give you a week to come clean with them."

With that, Joy left the kitchen leaving Jerome stunned. Well, it looked like his time was up. He bit his lip and thought of what to do. He could pull the bad childhood card, but Mara would never let him use that as an excuse. Why had he given into the temptation? Why had he needed to feel so important, it wasn't like attention got people places in life.

He groaned and discarded the apple, no longer feeling hungry. Head hanging down, Jerome headed back to his and Alfie's room. He could ask Alfie what to do, but Alfie would probably just tell him to be honest with the girls. No matter, Jerome would figure something out.

**A/N: So basically I had a feeling this is where the show was headed with that plotline, but this fic is most likely going in a different direction than the show? I already have it planned out, but who knows where the show is going. Silent readers are boring!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

"Alfie we have a problem."

"What now?"

"Joy knows that I'm dating Mara and Willow."

Alfie now closed his laptop and looked at Jerome. "Well, what did she say?"

"I have a week to come clean or she's going to do it for me."

"Well, obviously, you're going to have to tell them now."

"I had a feeling you'd say that," Jerome said, cursing mentally.

Alfie shrugged, "What else can you do really?"

Jerome sat down on his bed. Biting his lip he started thinking, "If I could find a way to get Joy to keep her mouth shut."

Alfie rose an eyebrow and said nothing. Jerome fell backwards and let out a groan, staring at the ceiling as if the answer would come to him from nowhere. As he thought, he realized there wasn't really any getting out of it. So, he had to make a decision before Joy made one for him. Standing up, he started pacing up and down in the hallway.

"Oh hey, Jerome." Jerome looked up to see Mara smiling at him from the landing in front of Victor's office.

"Hello, Mara," Jerome said, forcing a smile.

Mara bounced down the stairs and stopped in front of him. "I've been thinking, we need a night to go do something."

Jerome nodded "Yes, I agree," he looked around nervously. Willow appeared from the kitchen.

"Hi, Jerome" she smiled brightly.

"Hello, Willow," he said. He stood awkwardly his eyes darting from one girl to the other and then to the door. "Excuse me girls, I have to go find Fabian," he lied. "He just told me he might have found my school jacket."

Coughing awkwardly, he pushed past the two and made his way through the front door of the house. Once outside he headed in the direction of the school. If he didn't tell Willow and Mara, Joy would. It would probably be worse for them coming from Joy so he had to come clean. He reached the school and peered inside one of the windows, all the lights were off and so the school was probably locked at this point. Turning around he headed in the direction of the library. He didn't particularly want to go to the library, but anywhere was better than Anubis House right now.

When he reached the library he headed inside, if it were warmer out he would have just sat by the front door or something. It was rather chilly though, so he headed inside. There, he found Fabian. It was no surprise to him that Fabian was hanging out around the books and such in the library.

"Hello, Fabian."

"Oh, er, hey, Jerome."

"You seem flustered, are you hiding something?"

"No I just didn't know you had any interest in the library."

Jerome shrugged, "Maybe I do, maybe I don't."

"I assumed the latter."

Jerome chuckled, "Don't be so quick to judge, Fabian."

Fabian rose an eyebrow, "Quick? Jerome I've known you since we started at this school years ago."

"Don't assume you know me too well, Rutter."

"Why are you really here, Jerome?"

"I needed to get away from that cramped house."

Fabian blinked as if he were expecting Jerome to continue. Jerome didn't continue and instead took a seat on one of the steps of the staircase leading to the second landing of books. Leaning back on his elbows Jerome continued his thought pattern.

He had to tell the girls what was up, and he had to tell them in person. How much of what he told would be the truth was debatable. He had a few options here, he could pull the "I didn't want to hurt either of you" card. Or even come up with some elaborate reason as to why he dated both of them. Maybe he was protecting them from something? No, they'd never believe that.

Fabian exited the library with a good-bye, leaving Jerome by himself.

Jerome stood up and paced back and forth.

"I'm so sorry, Mara," he said to no one in particular, "I wanted to tell her I was taking but she just seemed so fragile." Then he cursed at himself and shook his head, no no, that wouldn't do. "Girls, my family life has been so bad, I just needed somewhere I felt needed. It was too tempting, I'm a weak man! What can you expect?" He mentally kicked himself for that one.

Finally the sun disappeared from the sky and Jerome decided to head back to Anubis House for dinner. As he stepped through the front door Alfie grabbed his shirt and pulled him into the kitchen.

"They know," said Alfie.

"What?"

"Mara and Willow. They know."

"How? Did you-?"

"Not me," said Alfie.

"Joy," finished Jerome. Turning on his heel he stomped up the steps to the girls' rooms. Bursting open the door to Joy's room he ignored protests from Patricia and KT.

"Damn it, Joy. You told me I had a week."

Joy shrugged and arched an eyebrow condescendingly, "It's not like you were actually going to tell them."

"You don't know that."

Joy scoffed, "Oh, please, Jerome, I know you."

"Don't you even think for a second you have the right to say that, Joy. Especially after going back on your word and destroying my happiness."

"You were cheating on Mara and Willow, what did you want me to do?"

"Let me tell them myself?"

"Which you wouldn't have done!"

Jerome shoved a finger in Joy's face and lowered his tone. "It was none of your business, just because Fabian doesn't want you doesn't mean you can go and mess with other people's lives."

"Oh don't try to make me feel guilty, Jerome, you're the one who was messing with two girls at once."

"You might think you're high and mighty, but you are no better than I am, Joy. Didn't you kiss Fabian while he was still with Nina?"

Before Joy could respond, Jerome stalked out of the room. When he reached the dining room, Willow and Mara were sitting in their usual places. No one else had reached the room yet, and the two stared Jerome down until he took his seat.

"So, I guess I have some explaining to do."

"You know what, Jerome, I don't want to hear it," Mara said, standing up and pushing her chair in. "It's over."

Jerome looked helplessly at Willow who just shook her head. "I thought you were different," was all she said before standing up as well. The two exited the room, bumping into Eddie and Alfie who said, "Isn't it dinner time?" To which the girls responded, "Not hungry."

Letting his head fall to the table, Jerome let out a groan of desperation. Alfie bit his lip and Eddie eyed him warily.

"You okay, Jerry?"

"What is okay?"

"I'll take that as a no."

**A/N: Yeah I kind of wanted to rush the break-up of Mara and Willow so I could get into the Jeroy stuff sorry if this was terrible. Anyways, updates will be soon-ish maybe? It's fourth quarter of my Junior year though so I have AP exams and SATs to worry about... yikes. I WILL UPDATE (eventually)**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Jerome was seething. It had been a week since Mara and Willow had dumped him and Joy had ruined his life. He hadn't spoken to any of them but now he couldn't even walk into a room without setting off a reaction of awkward silences, whispers, and glares.

No one had liked him before, but now everyone seemed to hate him. Not that he blamed them, he supposed he did deserve it after doing what he did.

Alfie didn't even seem very keen on talking to him recently. Instead, his so-called best friend was intent on comforting Willow who didn't even seem very upset to begin with. Mara, on the other hand, seemed to still be fuming.

It was while he was having these thoughts that Alfie approached him. He couldn't stand being around the other housemates recently, so Jerome spent most of his time brooding in his room.

"Sulking per usual?"

Jerome rolled his eyes, "Oh I wasn't informed you still wanted to talk to me."

"Oh don't act like such a girl, Jerome. I was coming to inform you of Mara's little stunt."

"Stunt?"

"Nothing too major, just a rumor she's starting up."

Jerome rose an eyebrow, "Excuse me?"

Alfie took a seat on his bed and reclined back. He threw his hands up in the air and said, "She said some stuff during dinner after you left." That was very likely, Jerome had been eating as quickly as possible so he could get the heck away from the awkwardness in the dining room and leaving the room within a matter of three minutes.

"Well what did she say?"

Alfie took a minute to respond. "She's saying you pressured her into sleeping with you."

Jerome stood up, "I did no such thing! I mean she has a right to be mad, but she has no right to spread a lie that damn serious. I could get in serious trouble if any authorities catch word of this."

Alfie shrugged and Jerome stormed out of the room. He swung open the door to the kitchen and stood across the counter from Mara. Joy, Willow, Patricia, KT, Eddie, and Fabian all took a step away. Jerome's eyes narrowed as he glared at his ex-girlfriend.

"What do you think you're doing?" He asked, threateningly.

"Protecting my rights as a woman and standing up for myself."

"By spreading around an untrue rumor?"

KT piped up at this point, "Back off Jerome. Mara wouldn't lie, you belong in jail with other people of your kind."

Jerome whirled around and stood towering over KT. "I have had enough of you, you perky little bitch. Acting all nice and innocent one moment then getting into other people's business or attacking someone the next. Especially when things don't go your way. You don't know what happened so stay the hell out of it."

Now, KT looked like she might cry and there were a few objections from his other housemates but he ignored them. He turned back to Mara.

"I get that you're upset, but I didn't pressure you to do anything. We didn't even do anything."

"Well, you deserve to be treated like the vermin you are."

Jerome exhaled, "So let me be treated like the vermin I am and not the vermin I'm not. Listen Mara, I know you're upset with me and you have every right to be, but you have no right to spread things that are untrue."

"It's not untrue."

"What's not untrue?"

"You pressured me into sleeping with you."

"In case you can't remember, Mara, here's what went down that night. I mentioned that that's what I wanted and you made a huge deal out of it and instead of just saying no you left me alone for the rest of the night. Nothing even happened, I never brought it up again and we didn't sleep together."

A few of the others had worried looks on their faces. He wasn't sure how many, if any, of them believed him but one could hope. After all, his version was the truth. They all knew how uptight Mara was, if they had any brains in them they'd know who to believe.

Mara started crying and ran out of the kitchen, followed by most of the housemates. Joy stayed behind.

"Is that the truth? What you said?"

Jerome nodded, not making eye contact. He was still angry, he didn't even care that he had sent Mara crying out of the room. She had almost jeoprodized his future.

"You made both Mara and KT cry in less than five minutes."

"They'll live."

Joy let out a sigh, "I'm sorry. I probably put the idea in her head to spread around rumors. I told her she should get back at you for cheating on her and Willow."

Jerome arched an eyebrow and scoffed. "Because the whole school already hating me is definitely not enough."

"I'm sorry."

"It doesn't matter," Jerome said, turning to leave the room.

"Jerome," Joy said. Jerome paused. "I don't hate you."

Jerome didn't say anything and pushed through the kitchen door.

**A/N: Kind of made Mara the psycho ex like she is in the show but I went a little different route. Let the show keep the bad rip off of John Tucker Must Die. Silent readers are boring!**


End file.
